Maria Callas

[Tsaraslondon]

Ponselle had a Strad of a voice and it is evident here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXix1jvkEnU&feature=related

"O del mio amato ben" by Stephano Donaudy is rather uncomplicated piece of music but Ponselle above and Muzio below wrench so much expression out of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6gr-GVSLOw

And as for raw material, Callas' voice may have been troublesome to herself at times but it was a great instrument with a special timbre.

ZB

The Ponselle, recorded I believe at her villa after she had retired, is certainly impressive, but the Muzio is something else. The piece is, as you say, rather uncomplicated, but Muzio makes it a thing of veiled sighs and tears, almost unbearably moving. I've heard many versions of this song, but I have never heard a better one.

[Guido]

Can't believe these videos haven't been posted here yet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuEmJZzuG9U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fZRssq7UlM&feature=related

Just awe inspiring stuff.

[Guido]

And as hilarious and dispicable counterpoise this performance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7a7yb3dWhJs&feature=related

Maybe the worst singing of this aria I have ever heard! The most hilarious thing for me is the breathing, but virtually everything could (and should!) be faulted.

[Guido]

Also what's the reasoning behind people saying that it is the light roles that hurt her voice more than the heavy ones? I remember Renée Fleming saying it somewhere, but I can't remember why she thought that was. Also why do people not believe Callas' own frank account of the decline?

[False_Dmitry]

And as hilarious and dispicable counterpoise this performance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7a7yb3dWhJs&feature=related

In what language is she singing?   

the reasoning behind people saying that it is the light roles that hurt her voice more than the heavy ones?

I can't say I've heard of this before.  It might be that in the original context, the remark was made by someone who'd been badly miscast?  That's never good, of course.   A dramatic soprano would find it hard to sing a soubrette role.  But a solid vocal technique will see you through almost anything - providing that the tessitura isn't wrong for your voice in the first place.   Of course there's a big difference between what you can do if you absolutely have to, and the kind of repertoire and range that suits you ideally

Catherine Jenkins, for example, has a very nice C# in her voice.  If she could stick to that, and sing in English, everything would be fine. It's just those other notes that cause the problems.  And languages.  And acting.

[Guido]

Catherine Jenkins, for example, has a very nice C# in her voice.  If she could stick to that, and sing in English, everything would be fine. It's just those other notes that cause the problems.  And languages.  And acting.

haha!

Just watching a Callas interview with Lord Harewood where she says that the Bellini and Donizetti roles are much harder in every way than the Wagner roles (apparently she sung Isolde and Brunnhilde in her youth!) which I found really interesting.

[Tsaraslondon]

Can't believe these videos haven't been posted here yet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuEmJZzuG9U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fZRssq7UlM&feature=related

Just awe inspiring stuff.

I've known them for years, and have them both on DVD. The first is part of a concert from Paris in 1958, at which she also sang Casta Diva from Norma, D'amor sull'ali rosee and the Miserere from Il Trovatore, and the complete last act of Tosca, with Tito Gobbi.

The second is from a 1962 TV performance before a live audience at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. She also sang Tu che le vanita from Don Carlo, and the Seguedille from Carmen. This DVD also includes the 2nd Act of Tosca, also with Gobbi, but filmed during the run of performances at Covent Garden in 1964. I think both DVDs are still available from EMI.

I always think it a great pity that the only documents we have Callas actually singing in opera, as opposed to in concert, are both of her in Tosca. The many silent snippets we have of her appearing in Medea are tantalising glimpses of what she must have been like in one of her great roles. What I wouldn't give to have seen her as Norma, Violetta or Lucia; Medea, Anna Bolena or Amina!

[knight66]

And as hilarious and dispicable counterpoise this performance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7a7yb3dWhJs&feature=related

Maybe the worst singing of this aria I have ever heard! The most hilarious thing for me is the breathing, but virtually everything could (and should!) be faulted.

I did not know she could sing that well. The payoff at the end was poor for certain and as she seemed to have no narrative in her head; it exposed the simple building blocks of the aria and it became boring.

Mike

[Tsaraslondon]

haha!

Just watching a Callas interview with Lord Harewood where she says that the Bellini and Donizetti roles are much harder in every way than the Wagner roles (apparently she sung Isolde and Brunnhilde in her youth!) which I found really interesting.

Lilli Lehmann, who sang in the first complete Ring cycle at Bayreuth, and who was also a great Norma, is quoted as saying that she would rather sing all three Brunnhildes in one night, than one Norma.

[Tsaraslondon]

I did not know she could sing that well. The payoff at the end was poor for certain and as she seemed to have no narrative in her head; it exposed the simple building blocks of the aria and it became boring.

Mike

It certainly wasn't as bad as I expected, but she didn't really seem to have much idea what she was singing about, so there was absolutely no sense of context.  It was just someone singing a pretty tune.

[knight66]

Here is a forgotten singer, Berganza. She knows what to do with it, though there are a few little suspect notes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oby-hCgZLJc&feature=related

Mike

[Franco]

And as hilarious and dispicable counterpoise this performance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7a7yb3dWhJs&feature=related

Maybe the worst singing of this aria I have ever heard! The most hilarious thing for me is the breathing, but virtually everything could (and should!) be faulted.

I wasn't so bad, IMO.  My complaint is that she is singing for the microphone, and even so seems to clip the phrases.  But the quality of her voice is nice.

Youtube placed a Callas clip from a concert recital with her singing this same aria with piano alongside the Jenkins one, and I don't know how old she is obviously much older than Jenkins - but the difference is striking.

[Guido]

I wasn't so bad, IMO.  My complaint is that she is singing for the microphone, and even so seems to clip the phrases.  But the quality of her voice is nice.

Youtube placed a Callas clip from a concert recital with her singing this same aria with piano alongside the Jenkins one, and I don't know how old she is obviously much older than Jenkins - but the difference is striking.

Nice is about the highest compliment that one could give. She breathes virtually every bar which apart from sounding hideous (every one is a gasp) completely breaks any sort of flow. Thing is she never sings without a mic - ever. Her pronunciation of the French is absolutely atrocious as has been pointed out, there's no expression or emotion, she can't sustain a phrase, the intonation is generally ok but wavers when she has to sing high notes, the high notes themselves are poor. The whole thing just seems to be a struggle. She has always said in the past that this is role she would most like to portray on the stage and that mezzo's never mature until their early thirties anyway. Now that she is approaching that age one shudders to think how they're going to achieve this - obviously she'll still need a mic - I'm predicting that there'll be some sort of musical like overhall of the piece so that she can do it... like that recent redoing of Porgy and Bess that was a total flop.

Callas would have been 51 in that piano recital and the voice has declined enormously from the first recording I posted (1962), though of course it is still miles above Jenkins.

[DarkAngel]

Can't believe these videos haven't been posted here yet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuEmJZzuG9U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fZRssq7UlM&feature=related

Just awe inspiring stuff.

Don't just watch the short snippets...............3 great performance DVDs available



Callas has so many great recordings of Rosina's aria Una voce poco fa, no one else does it better for me. The Hamburg recital version may be best on video with Maria being more playful as the character would be out smarting the men in ways of love. The CD version is absolutely wonderful also.

Callas did Carmen very late in her career, but the complete CD version is just great.......Callas is Carmen

There is a fictional movie called Callas Forever which retired Maria (Fanny Ardant) is approached to do film version of Carmen and lip sync with her complete audio recording done previously for the sake of future fans to remember her.......

   

[Guido]

I'll definitely consider them - there are so many opera DVDs that I want too though!

Apparently there are not one but two Callas films coming up:
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/57355,news-comment,entertainment,eva-mendes-and-penelope-cruz-both-up-for-maria-callas-film-role

[Tsaraslondon]

I'll definitely consider them - there are so many opera DVDs that I want too though!

Apparently there are not one but two Callas films coming up:
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/57355,news-comment,entertainment,eva-mendes-and-penelope-cruz-both-up-for-maria-callas-film-role

A pity that both of them are to concentrate on her relationship with Onassis. Surely the interesting story is what made her great. By the time she met Onassis, her voice was already in decline. She had worked tirelessly, almost non stop at music and singing since she was a child. Is it any wonder that when the prospect of something different, and, on the surface, more exciting came along, that she would embrace it with open arms? Unfortunately her desire to be part of the glitzy Monte Carlo, and her love for Onassis, precipitated the decline. When the affair was over, her voice, and her confidence were in tatters, and it was too late to go back to the only thing that had really sustained her before she met him.

[Tsaraslondon]

Here is a forgotten singer, Berganza. She knows what to do with it, though there are a few little suspect notes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oby-hCgZLJc&feature=related

Mike

I'm not sure Berganza is forgotten - not by me, certainly.

This version has less charm, but is more dangerous.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlGTz0pSLS8

[kishnevi]

I, and the complete last act of Tosca, with Tito Gobbi.

Something's off there, unless Gobbi suddenly found he could sing tenor roles. 

Referencing Guido's comment--she started off as a dramatic soprano, and switched to bel canto only several years into her career.  There's a long description in the liner notes PDF of EMI's most recent reissue of her recording of Turandot; if I can do so, I'll post it tomorrow.
Ironically, she did not actually record Turandot until well after she had abandoned the role onstage, which was apparently one of her signature roles before she took to bel canto.

[zamyrabyrd]

And as hilarious and dispicable counterpoise this performance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7a7yb3dWhJs&feature=related

Maybe the worst singing of this aria I have ever heard! The most hilarious thing for me is the breathing, but virtually everything could (and should!) be faulted.

If anyone has noticed, shortcuts to the top of classical singing are being attempted through the America/Britain/X''s Got Talent route. Those who couldn't get a foot in the door through other venues, let alone the Metropolitan Opera auditions shriek high notes while the audience swoons and  the judges exclaim "THAT was TERRIFIC".

There were two tenors last season, one worse than the other. Another mom trotted out a stentorian "O mio babbino caro" to the admiring countenances of her family and astonishment of everyone else.  And somehow like Jenkins, such appearances are supposed to be enought to jumpstart a career. Well, there's always Richard Clayderman, Emma Schapplin, etc., to pander to that kind of public.

I still prefer Callas' "Habanera"  (1962)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fZRssq7UlM&feature=related

She doesn't have to jump barefoot all around the stage to get an effect. Baltsa sounds great when you don't look at her.  Berganza is a little too tame.  Callas has irony in her facial expression as well as voice.  Love is all a game for her Carmen.

ZB

[Tsaraslondon]

Something's off there, unless Gobbi suddenly found he could sing tenor roles. 

Sorry, I did of course mean Act II.